US Scales Back Pandemic Response as Covid Explodes in China (1)

The US government is preparing to drastically reduce its role in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic even as an explosion of cases in China is raising fresh concern about the virus within the Biden administration.

Spending legislation that Congress is poised to send to President Joe Biden this week includes no new funds for vaccines, testing or treatments. The White House has signaled that Biden — who has declared the pandemic “over” — would sign the bill even though lawmakers spurned his request for $9.25 billion to keep shots and medications free.

The shift, driven by congressional penny-pinching, marks a political, ...